Where in Florida? 99 Jamz in Miami has always been a respectable station that had Hip Hop roots. DJ Khaled works there. His show was so fucking dope back in the day, his Friday night show at 8 PM. When he was Terror Squad. So much dope NY shit. Then of course he started being a faggit with Wayne and them but I digress.

Other than that though, you're not going to find a station like that ESPECIALLY now. However, we've always had dope underground stations down here. NOVA UNIVERSITY used to have a station and would play soooo much fucking REAL HIP HOP but that was in '04 and around then I don't think they do that anymore. When I first moved here in like 97, there were a few NY families and these two brothers found a station that they claimed was from NYC and they could get in Miami. I forget exactly how they did it and what they used but sure enough they played all Wu and all NYC hardcore Hip Hop shit. 88.7 never forget it.

Where in Florida? 99 Jamz in Miami has always been a respectable station that had Hip Hop roots. DJ Khaled works there. His show was so fucking dope back in the day, his Friday night show at 8 PM. When he was Terror Squad. So much dope NY shit. Then of course he started being a faggit with Wayne and them but I digress.

Other than that though, you're not going to find a station like that ESPECIALLY now. However, we've always had dope underground stations down here. NOVA UNIVERSITY used to have a station and would play soooo much fucking REAL HIP HOP but that was in '04 and around then I don't think they do that anymore. When I first moved here in like 97, there were a few NY families and these two brothers found a station that they claimed was from NYC and they could get in Miami. I forget exactly how they did it and what they used but sure enough they played all Wu and all NYC hardcore Hip Hop shit. 88.7 never forget it.

Mostly Daytona Beach. And I didn't mean on the radio, but just all the clubs and bars i went to and what I heard playing out of cars going by. It was spring break time.

Also saw a man roll by in a motorized wheelchair with some GOOD speakers attached to it, bumping Lil Jon. Never seen no shit like that in my life, couldn't believe my eyes. LOL.

I absolutely love these throwback style joints with that mellowness. And another classic King Tee joint with Breeze and Ice Cube:

Coolio had some joints on that first album, especially. It's crazy how he disappeared.....he went from one of the most popular rappers and biggest stars out in 95-96(2nd album) to not even mentioned at all by like 98. Rap moved and changed a lot faster back then, he was a classic example of that 2-3 album run, and then you're completely over just like that. He's NEVER mentioned now either.

It's bugged to me how underground cats like Big L are known by kids who weren't even born when he came out, while actual pop-culture stars from back then like Coolio are obsolete. And I'm not complaining, Big L was a more talented rapper. It's just weird to me. Power of the internet, I guess.

Coolio had some joints on that first album, especially. It's crazy how he disappeared.....he went from one of the most popular rappers and biggest stars out in 95-96(2nd album) to not even mentioned at all by like 98. Rap moved and changed a lot faster back then, he was a classic example of that 2-3 album run, and then you're completely over just like that. He's NEVER mentioned now either.

It's bugged to me how underground cats like Big L are known by kids who weren't even born when he came out, while actual pop-culture stars from back then like Coolio are obsolete. And I'm not complaining, Big L was a more talented rapper. It's just weird to me. Power of the internet, I guess.

Yep. Everybody and their momma knows about "Gangsta's Paradise" but that's about as far as it gets. And Coolio is nowhere near as bad a rapper as most of the underground backpack elitists like to claim he is. But then again, MC Hammer, who still has the best selling album in hip-hop is pretty much irrelevant and hardly anyone ever talks about him. Times change...

Yep. Everybody and their momma knows about "Gangsta's Paradise" but that's about as far as it gets. And Coolio is nowhere near as bad a rapper as most of the underground backpack elitists like to claim he is. But then again, MC Hammer, who still has the best selling album in hip-hop is pretty much irrelevant and hardly anyone ever talks about him. Times change...

Agree. Gangsta's Paradise is still known(and that shit was like the biggest song ever damn near, back then, literally came on the radio every single hour for awhile), but, and I'm being DEAD ASS serious here......i've heard some younger people think 2Pac made Gangsta's Paradise. Which is both hilarious and sad to me. And real talk, Coolio was more popular than 2Pac on the "pop culture tip" in 94-95 and it was like a tie in 96 until late in the year when Pac died. And I agree, Coolio was not a bad rapper at all. He wasn't amazing, but he was servicable, had a solid flow, voice, and delivery, and made songs that while they didn't appeal to MC Nerd/wannabe Tough Guy Underground Supreme, were both authentic enough and funny/catchy enough to appeal to a mass audience.

I recognize that to those who weren't there, that sounds crazy now, but as someone who rap music was the most important thing in the world(along with basketball) to me at the time, it's absolutely true. And just on some stream of conciousness, the two are connected in a few ways if you remember.....2Pac's rapper "cousin" that he kept referencing and listening to in the movie Poetic Justice was actually Coolio rapping on those songs right before he blew up in real life. And then Coolio was the star of 2Pac's "Temptations" video that was really big when Pac was locked up and couldn't film the video obviously.

And like you said, Gangsta's Paradise is the Coolio song that lasted, but it was far from his only major hit. Fantastic Voyage was huge back then too, that was one of the biggest rap songs of that mid 90's era. County Lines and I remember were hits in the hip hop community. And he had a lot of other hits too. Not just hip hop, BET Rap City, Hot 97 hits, but pop hits that everybody across the country knew and that got play on radio stations right in between Boyz II Men, Alanis Morrisette, TLC, and later Puff Daddy and the biggest acts in the country at the time. Shit like 1,2,3,4, Too Hot, All The Way Live, and C U When U Get There definitely got that pop radio play when radio play really mattered, plus songs like that Space Jam Hit Em High song someone posted above where Coolio's verse was absolutely the verse that everyone knew back then. Even album cuts like "Ugly Bitches" (though never released as a single), that was really popular back then. As a kid I and many others thought it was hilarious and true(kids mentality).

I liked him, but he was far from my favorite as I had a heavy NY bias(and that was big back then too), but Coolio was huge back then. Sometimes I (morbidly) wonder if someone like Coolio(or LL or Snoop or Dre...the major stars then) got shot instead of Pac or BIG, would he be immortalized like them dudes with all the extra bullshit?

Just listened to It Was Written for the first time. Not understanding why it gets dogged when Nas' discography is discussed. I know this, I Am... and Nastradamus get skipped over a lot. Getting on those other two soon, but IIW was not a bad album. Apparently it was criticized because they accused Nas of going for a mainstream audience. I see that with some of the earlier tracks, but not too much overall. A better example of this would be Lasers, but that wasn't really Lupe's fault. IIW was a good album. The Message was hands down the best track.